The Horrific Mass Rape of German Women at the End of World War II
The greatest mass rape in history — the liberators raped over 2 million women
Published in
6 min readJun 9, 2021
Throughout history, rape was a way to show dominance over defeated enemies. Women of the defeated opponents were treated as spoils of war. The winners raped them after they had killed their sons, husbands, and fathers.
During World War II, Nazi Germany committed horrific crimes against humanity ranging from the Holocaust to systematic raping and killing of innocent women and children in the occupied territories.
After the tide of war turned and the Allied forces invaded the territory of Nazi Germany, the German civilians, especially women, felt the brunt of reprisals.
“All of us knew very well that if girls were German, they could be raped and then shot. This was almost a combat distinction.”
— Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russian novelist
